Museum auction seats all kinds

Contributed | BDN

Contributed | BDN

October 29, 2008 7:15 pmUpdated: March 20, 2011 5:55 am

BANGOR, Maine — “Save Me a Seat!” a fundraiser for the Maine Discovery Museum, is an event you really must take sitting down. It features 76 chairs painted and adorned by 74 Maine artists — 30 child-size Adirondack chairs, 27 child-size rocking chairs and 19 artist-supplied chairs in child and adult sizes. The themes are as varied as the artists themselves.

Take, for example, the Let’s Pretend Chair painted by Liane Giambalvo of Hampden. It comes with a handmade quilt, also crafted by Giambalvo, to snuggle up in — sometimes you need a rest from all that pretending.

Then there’s the Forest Magic chair Tree Heckler of Bangor painted. It evokes the shadowy green depths of a Maine forest on a high summer day.

Chick Rauch’s creation, A Front Seat at the Circus, will have the entire family on a quest to “send in the clowns.”

Kristborg Whitney of Bangor had the mystery of the sea in mind when she created The Little Mermaid chair. It has the shape of a mermaid built right into it.

Deborah Jellison and her daughter, Summer, of Brewer, had birds on the brain when they put their chair together. It features a portrait of a penguin framed in yellow and blue feathers, which also adorn the seat and arms.

Each chair is a unique and charming work of art.

“Save Me a Seat!” is set for Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Spectacular Event Center, Griffin Road.

The silent auction and preview of all auction items begins at 5 p.m. with dinner at 6:30 p.m. The live auction begins at 8 p.m. Guest auctioneers will be Kara Matuszewski and Chris Facchini from WLBZ NewsCenter2.

“Save Me a Seat!” is the museum’s sixth annual dinner auction and its most important fundraising event of the year.

Artists from Portland to Millinocket and Farmington to Machias have crafted chairs from the elegant to the wild, the stately to the whimsical. There are chairs for every taste, every age and every room of the house or cottage.

Contributing artists come from all across the state of Maine, just as visitors to Maine Discovery Museum come from every county to experience the wonders of Maine’s largest children’s museum.

Tickets for the event are $45 per person and may be purchased online or by calling the Museum at 262-7200. Absentee bids will be accepted.